we tip well....start at 29% and go up or down from there... part of it is for selfish reasons,...live in a small town...go to the same places all the time...
at our favorite restaurant, El Dorado,... the other servers do not even try to seat us they just yell for Larro. He is our guy. Treats us like kings... I like fresh cilantro with my tacos but being a small town it is not always available...so I do not order the tacos much.... Larro always lets me know when they have cilantro,.. and he chops it himself....On the rare occasion we show up when Larro is not there...Oscar is the backup....
The Mariachis?? Good dudes, they know not to come over if I am tired....generally tip them $1 per song when they stop by...then maybe a couple more bucks in their jar by the register.
Buffets....a buck per person for getting the drinks.
generally you can tell if poor service is due to the server or the kitchen... no point holding it against the server if it was out of their control.....
never send food back. the kitchen staff is either busy, or bored...I am not going to be the guy causing them grief in those circumstances,...I cant see them and they have my food..... if I get crap food, I choke it down...mention it to the manager.....I have a three strikes policy....if a restaurant hits their strikes in a short period...I don't go back.
I love a decent steakhouse.... Santa Fe Steakhouse in McComb, MS suxx ass...been there twice since I moved here and the food was poor each time....will give them a shot again in six more months,...but I am expecting it to be their third strike.....I can overlook a lot...but not a screwed up steak